Medical Doctor Exposes Secrets on How to Avoid Becoming Victim to the Healthcare System

Share Article

Overcoming powerful forces that influence the way a patient is treated within the healthcare system is discussed in a recently published book.

Salem, OR (PRWEB)March 8, 2006

In this recently published book, “Secrets of Medical Decision Making”, (ISBN 1932690174, January 2006,) Oleg I. Reznik, M.D. brings to light exactly how a physician’s recommendations can be influenced by powerful forces that have nothing to do with the patient’s best interest. “Fear of litigation is one of these forces with power to change the way medicine is practiced,” claims Reznik.

A recent report in JAMA (2005; 293) revealed that nearly all (93%) physicians, in six specialties, surveyed reported practicing defensive medicine. The report further states that most physicians avoid procedures and patients that were perceived to elevate the probability of litigation. Furthermore, nearly half of them reported that they had taken steps to restrict their practice by eliminating procedures prone to complications, such as trauma surgery, and avoiding patients who had complex medical problems or were perceived as litigious.

The influence of the pharmaceutical industry on creating medical guidelines is another force responsible for the direction of today’s medicine. “The current medical model, which was created close to one hundred years ago mainly for the treatment of the acute illnesses, and is now applied to our current plague—chronic illness,” explains Reznik. Financial and time pressure is another challenge that is contributing more and more to what happens to the quality of out interaction with a physician, as our health care dollars are dwindling. Speaking about his book, Reznik continues, “while the existence of these challenges has been recognized before, I believe that I’ve made a contribution in clarifying exactly how they translate into the everyday doctor-patient interaction.”

Awareness of the factors that go into medical decision making will always help to find a better solution to any given medical problem. The patient can learn the limiting aspects of the physician’s and of their own thinking that lead to more suffering. Physicians, bound by their own fears and pressures, are one such source of such suffering. Patients’ unreasonable expectations are another. “The audience should be aware every time they see a commercial advertising a medication or a medical service on TV, that such advertising does not have purely altruistic motives. For this reason it is biased, prone to inaccuracies and to giving false impressions. Our false impressions about the capabilities of medicine drive us to its unnecessary consumption, to disappointment, frustration, resentment, to emotional and physical pain,” claims Reznik.

While modern medicine does have an effective arsenal of treatments for the acute medical problems, things are different when it comes to chronic illness. A modest slowing of progression is the most modern medicine can boast, when it comes to most chronic illness. “In my book I accurately describe what medicine can and cannot do for some of the common medical problems. It is my hope awareness of these issues would motivate the reader/listener to take charge of their own lives and consider their health in the light of their own lifestyles, instead of believing that someone else (the medical system) will fix it for them,” reiterates Reznik. “I wrote this book to bring a sense of independence and self-empowerment to the prospective patients. During my training and practice as a physician I became acutely aware of the great deal of suffering that stems not only from the illnesses, but more so from the beliefs that most people have regarding the capabilities of the modern medical system.” These beliefs almost invariably lead to disappointment, frustration, and a great deal of physical and emotional pain. Patients with such beliefs submit themselves to tests and invasive procedures that bring them nothing more than additional suffering.

Oleg I. Reznik, M.D., practices almost exclusively mind-body medicine in his private practice, while continuing to do conventional medicine, hospital work, and low-risk obstetrics at Willamette Family Medical Center in Salem, Oregon. “Secrets of Medical Decision Making: How to Avoid Becoming a Victim of the Healthcare Machine”, published by Loving Healing Press, is available through online bookstores or may be purchased at a local bookstore. Loving Healing Press books are distributed by Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and New Leaf Distributing. For a review copy, contact info@LovingHealing.com